EU commissioner says ‘tide is going out on the high priests of Brexit’ and raises prospect of second referendum

An EU commissioner has said British public opinion is turning against leaving the bloc, and that “the tide is finally starting to go out on the high priests of Brexit”.

Speaking in Ireland on Monday Phil Hogan, an Irish commissioner, said the British public were finally seeing through the “deception and lies” of politicians like Michael Gove and Nigel Farage.

He cited polls showing the Remain side ahead and raised the spectre of a referendum on the final deal, which he said was causing Brexiteers to “panic”.

Mr Hogan, who is the EU’s agriculture chief, warned that the UK government lacked a plan and that the cabinet was failing to even agree with itself on a “workable solution” to issues like customs.

But speaking in Rosslare Europort on the Republic’s southeastern tip, he added: “There is also the unmistakeable sense that the mood is changing in the UK. Public opinion is starting to move, and all recent polling shows the Remain side firmly ahead.

“This is an important change, because well into 2017, the polls showed a majority still in favour of Brexit.

“British business is raising its voice in exasperation at the government’s lack of a plan.”

He continued: “The tide is finally starting to go out on the high priests of Brexit, and not before time.

“Arch-Brexiteers like Nigel Farage and Michael Gove are disowning their pre-referendum promises of a land of milk and honey, and a sense of panic is setting in among them that the British public is finally seeing through their deception and lies.

“Calls are growing for some form of ‘people’s referendum’ on the final Brexit deal, if there is one. There is still a lot of ball to be played.”

Most recent polling has indeed showed Remain ahead, albeit by the slimmest of majorities. More emphatically, all polling has shown that the public believe the government’s negotiations are going badly by significant majorities. Seventy-three per cent of all voters and even 70 per cent of Leave voters think Brexit is going badly, according to a recent poll by YouGov. Just 6 per cent said they expected Brexit to go well and that they still believe it to be going well.

But the political path to a second referendum appears difficult. The Liberal Democrats have called for a second referendum on the final deal but appear to have scant chance of power. Labour has not ruled one out; shadow chancellor John McDonnell said in April that the party was “not opposed to any form of democratic engagement”, and that “we’ve not ruled anything out”. But the close Jeremy Corbyn ally added: “My preference is not another referendum, but a general election.”

Last week Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan was the first minister in the government to admit that such a vote on the final deal would be possible – but he said the decision to leave the EU could not be reversed and that another vote would be a bad idea.

The European Commission and European Council presidents Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk have both said that Britain could reverse Brexit if it wanted to.

Mr Hogan is one of 28 European commissioners – who are the equivalent of government ministers and effectively make up the EU’s executive branch. In recent months he has served as the commission’s attack dog; in April he rubbished Theresa May’s plan for a “global Britain”, warning that there are “stubborn facts that over-shadow a rosy picture” painted by the prime minister.

Later this month EU national leaders, including Theresa May, will meet in Brussels for their quarterly European Council summit, which will in part be a staging post to look at progress made in Brexit talks. The EU says a deal needs to be done by October.